Kurt Ullman wrote:

Heh! I already save bucketloads of state taxes by not playing the
lottery.

Interestingly enough, the lottery proceeds in Indiana go, to a
certain extent, to pay part of the excess (errrr excise) tax on my car
plates. I get more in lottery-related savings on my cars than I play.
So, I look at it as though I am playing for free.

Oooh! Good point!

We should, therefore, encourage others to play the lottery thereby keeping
our taxes down.

Good idea.

Back in the olden days, here's the way the "Numbers Game" worked. You would
pick a number from 00 to 99 and pay the person selling the ticket ten cents.
If the next day's Dow Jones average ended in the two digits you picked, you
won $6.00!

Obviously the players redeemed about 60% of the total take (on average). My
state pays out 62% of the revenue in prizes, which make it slightly better
than the mob.